The International House of Mojo

While we don’t front page every last instance of it, since at a certain point we’d just be functioning as a mirror of Ron Gilbert’s Mastodon page (not that we’re above that in principle - only in work ethic), it’s worth reminding those with ordered priorities that Ron fairly routinely volunteers glimpses of his upcoming RPG A Schtick to the Past (working title) there, for example this one from a few days ago:

I don't know much, but if Ron can’t come up with some arrangement with Limited Run to print a couple of novelty Game Boy Advance cartridges for this, a lot of dreams are gonna be murdered.

Source: Ron's Mastodon

I wouldn’t blame you for not believing this, but sometimes, not often, but now and again, we actually do some work on future sections of this site. Case in point is the elusive MojoDB, which… may become a thing at some point.

Unattainable deadlines aside, having added quite a bit of trivia to the prototype, it increasingly occurred to me that many are unaware of the breadth of details found in Return to Monkey Island. Long story short, instead of putting more work into the database, I ended up writing an article called “ICYMI: Return to Monkey Island.” Actually, “article” might be overselling it. “Listicle” might be a more apt description. But, no matter! Give it a perusal to learn about the hidden Pineapple Man, dangling electrical plugs, the Scumm Bar cook’s extensive rebuilding plans, and more.

If nothing else, it might spur you into replaying the game—or just browse The SCUMM Bar’s ReMI database. Either way, go read “ICYMI: Return to Monkey Island.” It’s basically scholarly material.

During Mojo’s Monthly Metrics Meeting, Zaarin presented some unexpected data. Numbers show that Mojo’s most-visited page is our September 2022 article, “The Secret of Cogg Island.” Hearing the news, the raised an eyebrow and gave a slight nod, which said it all: More Cogg Island content was needed. And so, we have added a second page to the article called “Puzzling Puzzles.” In it, we take a short look at what likely was the location’s five main puzzles: “Symbol Puzzle,” “Clock Puzzle,” “Compass Puzzle,” “Oar Puzzle,” and “Cannon Puzzle.”

While our findings weren’t plentiful, there’s enough fodder there for at least a decade or two of speculations. So, go read unless you’re a complete butt.

If you love Monkey Island and want everyone on the seven seas to know it, Devolver Digital's got Return to Monkey Island goods up for preorder.

Just taken a long walk off a short plank? There's a Bella Fisher towel. Yer timbers be shiverin'? Warm up with some Guybrush socks. Eyeballin' your enemies on a tense table and need some style to your swig? Try the Pirate Leaders lowball glass.

There's also stuff from gems like Cult of the Lamb and indie darling Inscryption, if those strike your fancy. Take a look here.

Sure, none of this is actually “news” as such, but as pointed out by TimeGentleman over in the forums, Ron “Ronzo” Gilbert’s upcoming RPG-Adventure (known colloquially as A Little Something) has a small write-up in Eurogamer. If you follow the man over on the Linux-of-social-networks, Mastodon, you’ve seen all of this before, but hey, it’s nice that the game is getting some love.

Plus, I had not noticed that Wally would potentially make an appearance.

Return to Monkey Island—more commonly known as ReMI on various Discords—is set to hit Apple’s subscription service this June. Or, more specifically, Return to Monkey Island+ will. My guess is that the + indicates the game will be playable on both Mac and i[Pad]OS.

Everybody needs more ReMI in their lives, so check it out on June 6th.

Update: The has bestowed upon his wisdom and informed us that the + indicates that downloadable content was included. That could mean that a) the Mac version includes the horse armor or b) as the iOS version has a sandboxed demo, the full game could be the +.

Source: The Verge

Humble Bundle is bundling Humongous Entertainment adventure games, including Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, and Pajama Sam. You can grab the lot for as little as $14.99.

Humongous Entertainment was founded by Ron Gilbert and Shelley Day after their departure from LucasArts. The company developed adventure games aimed at children, with credits listing ex-LucasArts talent like Dave Grossman and Annie Fox on the regular. Ron Gilbert's especially proud of his games at Humongous.

If that all sounds like fun or you have young children you want to corrupt into playing adventure games, now's your chance.

Source: Humble Bundle

Those who follow Ron on Mastodon have likely seen a steady trickle of information for his upcoming RPG (more than likely named “A Little Something”). Recently, he solicited his followers’ favorite quests from other RPGs, a collection of which you can find on his blog. All this undoubtedly serves as inspiration for his new game.

Want to contribute and go down in history as someone who worked as Ron’s muse? Read the aforementioned post, then @ him with your ideas.

Tell him @mixnmojo sent you—we carry a lot of clout. (Footnote: Citation needed.).

It’s award season over at Apple again, and nominated for “Mac Game of the Year” is Return to Monkey Island. The game is up against ELEX II and Lies of P, which, let’s be honest, are fake, so consider this another win for ReMI. The official results will be released “later this month.”

Well, hell, a year has passed? Return to Monkey Island has hit its first birthday, and so we went crazy and published a newsletter looking at the timeline up to its release.

As for other celebrations, we are hearing rumblings that some official “stuff” may hit soon.

Oh, and feel free to subscribe to the newsletter! As things have gone a bit quiet, it won’t hit your inbox that often, so there’s really no reason for you not to.

Update! The official celebration begins with the ReMI crew picking their favorite parts of the game.

And so it starts, the collectibles, albeit digitally only for now.

While I’m not familiar with Qobuz, the service will make the ReMI soundtrack available for sale tomorrow. The caveats are that it is CD length and CD quality, but whatever—this is, by all measures, great news. (Ungrateful bastard as I am, I’d like to see it on vinyl, too.)

I have no idea if it’s the same album as will be included with the LRG box. Either way, this will be available tomorrow so go get ready to grab it.

Source: The Forums

Ron’s next game—presumably the one that goes by A Little Something on Wikipedia—has been revealed just a little bit more...

Sounds like it could be a fun little something to me!

Hey, the demo doesn’t lie.

To be clear, this is absolutely canon, as proven:

If you thought the infatuation wouldn’t last, well... In a sense you were right: It has turned into actual love.

Rock Paper Shotgun has released its top 100 PC games of all time and ReMI proudly occupies #85. Not bad, seeing the game hasn’t even reached a year in age.

Which is a good reminder to download the game for iOS and/or Android.

Other Mojo-related games on there: Tales From The Borderlands hits a deserved #93 and Star Wars: The Knights Of The Old Republic sits on #79. The top 50 will presumably be released soon.

Yep. It’s out. Go get it—works great.

As expected, Return to Monkey Island is set to release on iOS and Android. On July 27, you can perform yet another act of penance for that copy of The Secret of Monkey Island you pirated by tossing $10 to Apple or Google. Or both. Here’s the trailer.

And speaking of mobile: Mojo has yet again gone social, this time on Threads. That’s right. We’re all about the 'gram. For now. (Email us a Bluesky invite if you want even more of us!)

So, that’s @internationalhouseofmojo for the only social account you’ll ever need. We’ll see if it sticks.

The best thing to happen to Mojo is the rise of YouTube interviews: Others create content; we reap the benefits. In this case:

We’re there tomorrow.

If you’re anything like me, you may have wondered what the logic behind LeChuck’s appearances in the underground tunnels is. (That is in LeChuck’s Revenge, natch.) Now, Ron has kicked Grumpy Gamer back into action and shed some light on it all:

A quick look at the code gives proof that you aren’t going crazy and there are reasons for LeChuck’s lengthy absences.

I’m one of those crazy people who like to take my time with a game, but I’ll still give budding speed runners a piece of advice: Use keyboard shortcuts—“P” for “pick up,” “U” for “use,” etc.—and you’ll save valuable seconds. The odds of beating LeChuck’s voodoo doll increase significantly.

We’re all getting older, as proven by the number of staffers and readers that have spawned offspring. And, for those with younger kids, finding a way to lull them to sleep can seem like a downright chore. Thankfully, an... artist?... called Lullaby Legends has taken it into their own hands to alleviate the problem with some unexpected tracks.

That is indeed the Scurvy Island theme and a strange version of “The SCUMM Bar” is available, too.

I have a hard time imagining this being properly licensed music—copyright Paul Robert Martin Leonard True?—so enjoy it while you can.

I’ll keep this short so I don’t interrupt the flood of Indy coverage: You now have yet another way to own Return to Monkey Island, this time from the Epic Games Store. It’s available for a cent cheaper than $17.50.

Back to Indy!